The Four Stewards
The Four Seasons * The White Lady - Winter * The Crafter - Spring * The Huntress - Summer * The Black Lord - Autumn History The Four Stewards - sometimes mistakenly referred to as Aspects - were known in ancient times prior to the fall of magic to be individuals of nigh on infinite power who watched over the wellbeing of Othonia in various ways, each corresponding to a season of the year when their powers were the strongest and while there is no definitive information written down about them, you can guess from your own observations that the Stewards belong to the seasons - and the seasons to them. While two of them are known to be confined to their own realms within the Passages, two are free to walk the face of Othonia during their own season. Many speculate that they are able to walk Othonia in a diminished capacity regardless of the time of year. ' Nearly all references to the Stewards stop around the fall of magic around one-thousand years ago, but one can occasionally stumble upon anecdotes of mysterious and otherworldly individuals that appear from time to time, usually in times of great strife or particularly long stretches of peace. One phrase that does crop up often enough when they are mentioned - both before and after the fall of magic - reads as follows: "Qui autem electionem eligendum. Qui non solum electio crudelitate nusquam appareant crudelitate, sed nec ob benevolentiam faciunt speciem species suas". ' The phrase is written in Ancient Miu, and after a few days of work, you translate it to mean: "Those who have a choice must choose. Those who have no choice may never act in cruelty simply for the appearance of being cruel, but neither may they act in kindness simply for the appearance of being kind." Purpose However contradictory this may sound, it gives you the impression that while the Stewards do have some sort of underlying plan or overall goal, their goal itself is not self-serving and instead is intended to serve the world as a whole, but exactly how that service is rendered is impossible for you to guess. Fortunately, it also seems that they balance each other out in some manner, but exactly how is never referenced. They have been seen to be almost extortive when it comes to attaining help, but other times provide assistance without asking for anything in return as if they are attempting to preserve some sort of cosmic balance. As far as a hidden agenda, mythology paints them as attempting to protect the world from some sort of threat beyond the boundaries of the periphery and empower mortals to assist them in this struggle or provide them with information to assist themselves, while others say they use mortals as pawns in some great game and prevent them from finding things they were not meant to find. In either case, it is typically agreed upon that they refuse to fight battles that are purely mortal in concern, but that if they chose to do so, they could wipe out entire armies with practically no effort of any sort. “Choice is the only thing in life one can call their own. If you choose to ask your questions, you must be prepared to pay the cost of your answers. If you choose not to ask your questions, you must be prepared to pay the cost of your silence. But all things must balance, and gain does not come without sacrifice.”